Alabama Divorce & Family Law Attorney Blog : Birmingham Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile Alabama

 Big divorce news in Atlanta.  Evangelist Juanita Bynum has had enough.  She filed papers seeking a divorce from her husband, Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III this past Monday, September 10, 2007.  According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, divorce papers accuse the Bishop of "beating, stomping and choking" his wife.  It is sad commentary on our times, that a supposed man of God, is being accused of domestic violence.  True or not, this kind of press is bad for the truly religious. If true, it is just another example of a con artist taking money in the guise of religion.  No true man of God(or any real-man for that matter) would ever put a hand to his wife.  That being said, it is not uncommon in divorce or child custody cases for one party, normally the wife, to accuse their spouse of some kind of domestic violence.  Accusing your spouse of domestic or child abuse can be an unscrupulous means to gain the advantage during divorce or custody proceedings. 

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The purpose of Alimony in Alabama is to preserve, as much as is possible, the economic living condition of the parties as they existed during the marriage. There is a duty to maintain the status of their ex-spouse until such time as the spouse is self-supporting or maintaining a similar status to the one enjoyed before the separation.

The two most important factors to be considered in determining alimony payments are:

1. The need of the spouse receiving alimony.
2. The ability to pay by the spouse paying alimony.

However, there is a laundry list of factors that courts do take into consideration:

• Standard of living during the marriage
• Age and gender of each party
• Length of the Marriage
• Bad conduct by a party that caused the divorce(adultery)
• Health of each party
• Potential for maintaining their standard of living without spouse

Alimony can result from long and short term marriages as well.

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The Alabama "venue statute," sets out the proper county to file your Alabama divorce actions.  Venue is just a fancy lawyer word for the place you file divorce papers. The Code provides several methods to establish proper venue.  Proper venue can be established in one of three ways:

1. You may file your divorce papers in the county where your spouse resides.
2. In the county where you resided with your spouse at the time of separation.
3. Or, if your spouse is a non-resident, the county in which he/she resides.

When both parties are residents of Alabama, divorce complaints can be filed in either the county in which your spouse resides, or in the county where you both lived before the separation occurred. It is also possible to file in any county you want, if your spouse agrees. 

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